Missy Raines (born April 6, 1962) is an American

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), keyboard bass (synth bass) or a low br ...

, singer, teacher, and songwriter. She has won 10 International Bluegrass Music Awards for Bass Player of the Year. Missy Raines was the first woman to win IBMA Bass Player of the Year award. She won 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2019, 2020, and 2021. In 1998 Missy Raines' first solo album "My Place in the Sun" (self released) was named IBMA Instrumental Recording of the Year. The Chicago Tribune named "My Place in the Sun" as one of the Top 10 Records of 1998. In 2018, "Swept Away" from Missy's album, Royal Traveller (Compass Records) was awarded IBMA "Recorded Event of the Year. The song features the First Ladies of Bluegrass named so for being the first women to win in their instrumental category, Missy Raines (bass), Alison Brown (banjo), Becky Buller, (fiddle), Sierra Hull, (mandolin), and Molly Tuttle, (guitar). In 2019, "Darlin' Pal(s) of Mine" also from Missy's album, Royal Traveller, was named IBMA "Instrumental Recording of the Year". This features bassists, Mike Bub and Todd Phillips, as well as Alison Brown on banjo. In 2020, Missy Raines' album, Royal Traveller, produced by Alison Brown, (Compass Records) was nominated for a Grammy. In 2020, Missy won IBMA "Song of the Year" for "Chicago Barn Dance" as co-writer along with Becky Buller and Alison Brown. The song was performed and recorded by the Chicago-based band "Special Consensus".

Biography

Hailing from

Short Gap, West Virginia Short Gap is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community in Mineral County, West Virginia, Mineral County, West Virginia, United States, located at the intersection of West Virginia Route 956, Routes 956 and West Virginia Route 28, 28; appro ...

, Raines began playing bass and touring professionally as a teenager. Today she is a respected bluegrass musician, playing both straight-ahead bluegrass and more progressive forms of music. She has worked with legends such as

Mac Wiseman Malcolm Bell Wiseman (May 23, 1925 – February 24, 2019) was an American bluegrass and country singer active for seven decades in the twentieth century. He was part of Bluegrass music's earliest generation, though bluegrass never defined him. ...

, Kenny Baker, Josh Graves, and Eddie & Martha Adcock to current artists such as

Peter Rowan Peter Rowan (born July 4, 1942) is an American bluegrass musician and composer. He plays guitar, fiddle, dobro, banjo, bass, piano and mandolin. He has a wide vocal range and yodels. He was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall o ...

Laurie Lewis Laurie Alexis Lewis (born September 28, 1950) is an American bluegrass singer, musician, and songwriter. History Laurie Lewis was born in Long Beach, California on September 28, 1950. Her family moved regularly from place to place until she w ...

, Dudley Connell, and Don Rigsby, and the Brother Boys.

Cloud Valley

Raines was a member of the progressive bluegrass band Cloud Valley with

Bill Evans William John Evans (August 16, 1929 – September 15, 1980) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist and composer who worked primarily as the leader of his trio. His use of impressionist harmony, block chords, innovative chord voicings, a ...

(banjo), Charlie Rancke (guitar), and Steve Smith (mandolin). They released two albums: ''A Bluegrass Ensemble'' in 1983 and ''Live In Europe'' in 1985.

Jim Hurst and Missy Raines

Missy Raines toured extensively from 1998- 2005 in a duo with

Jim Hurst James Edward “Jim” Hurst is an American bluegrass and country guitarist. He is known primarily as an instrumentalist but has also been credited for vocals with numerous other artists as well as his solo career. Hurst has performed with mus ...

. They recorded two albums for the Pinecastle label: ''Two'' in 1999 and ''Synergy'' in 2003.

Claire Lynch Band

Missy and Jim re-joined the Claire Lynch Band in 2005 (along with

David Harvey David William Harvey (born 31 October 1935) is a British-American academic best known for Marxist analyses that focus on urban geography as well as the economy more broadly. He is a Distinguished Professor of anthropology and geography at t ...

) when Lynch returned to the road after a hiatus. The band recorded two more albums: ''New Day'' and ''Crowd Favorites'', both on Rounder Records. Missy left the band in 2008, and was replaced by Mark Schatz.

Missy Raines & the New Hip

In 2008, Missy established her Americana/jazz-tinged ensemble Missy Raines & The New Hip, who have released two albums on the

Compass A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with No ...

label: ''Inside Out'' released February 10, 2009, and ''New Frontier'' released September 2013. Besides Missy, the New Hip includes Ethan Ballinger (guitar), Jarrod Walker (mandolin), and Cody Walker (drums).

Helen Highwater Stringband

Raines is a member of the bluegrass supergroup the Helen Highwater Stringband, along with Mike Compton, David Grier, and Shad Cobb. They released an eponymous EP in 2015.

Online Bass School

In 2011, she began teaching double bass online at th
Online Bluegrass Bass School with Missy Raines
as part of the ArtistWorksbr>Academy of Bluegrass

I'll Take Love

Missy co-produced and played on the Compass release "I'll Take Love", a collection of Louisa Branscomb's songs sung by a top list of artists including

The Whites The Whites are an American country music vocal group from Fort Worth, Texas, United States. They consist of sisters Sharon White and Cheryl White, and, until his death, their father, Buck White. Sharon plays guitar, Cheryl is the bassist and Bu ...

Alison Krauss Alison Maria Krauss (born July 23, 1971) is an American bluegrass-country singer, fiddler and music producer. She entered the music industry at an early age, competing in local contests by the age of eight and recording for the first time at ...

, Claire Lynch, Steve Gulley,

Dale Ann Bradley Dale Ann Bradley is an American bluegrass musician. She is a six-time (2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, and 2021) Female Bluegrass Vocalist of the Year, a distinction given by the International Bluegrass Music Association. She has released music bo ...

, Josh Williams,

John Cowan John Cowan (born August 24, 1953) is an American progressive bluegrass vocalist and bass guitar player. He was the lead vocalist and bass player for the New Grass Revival. Cowan became the band's bassist in 1972 after the departure of original ...

, and more.

Discography

Solo albums

* 1998: ''My Place In The Sun'' (self-released) * 2009: ''Inside Out'' (

) with The New Hip * 2013: ''New Frontier'' (Compass) with The New Hip * 2018: ''Royal Traveller'' (Compass)

With Claire Lynch

* 1997: ''Silver And Gold'' (Rounder) * 2000: ''Love Light'' (Rounder) * 2006: ''New Day'' (Rounder) * 2007: '' Crowd Favorites'' (Rounder) * 2012: ''Hills of Alabam'' (Rebel)

With Jim Hurst and Missy Raines

* 1999: ''Two'' ( Pinecastle) * 2003: ''Synergy'' (Pinecastle)

With Helen Highwater Stringband

* 2015: ''Helen Highwater Stringband'' EP (self-released)

As composer

* 2006: April Verch - ''Take Me Back'' (Rounder) - track 3, "All In A Night" (co-written with Claire Lynch)

As producer

* 1995: The Abeels - ''The Abeels'' (self-released)

Also appears on

* 1982: Cloud Valley - ''A Bluegrass Ensemble'' (Outlet) * 1985: Cloud Valley - ''Live in Europe'' (Strictly Country) * 1987: Eddie Adcock & Talk of the Town - ''Eddie Adcock & Talk of the Town'' ( CMH) * 1990: Masters - ''Saturday Night Fish Fry'' (CMH) * 1990:

- ''Grassroots to Bluegrass'' (CMH) * 1995:

- ''Native and Fine'' ( Rounder) * 2000: Alison Brown - '' Fair Weather'' (

) - bass on track 6, "Hummingbird" * 2001: Mike Burns - ''Walk the Water's Edge'' (North Co Music) * 2003: White House - ''White House'' ( Pinecastle) * 2004: K. C. Groves - ''Something Familiar'' (Skylark) * 2005: Valerie Smith & Liberty Pike - ''That's What Love Can Do'' (Bell Buckle) * 2010: The Toy Hearts - ''Femme Fatale'' (Woodville) * 2015: Sam Gleaves - ''Ain't We Brothers'' (Community Music) * 2016:

Kate Campbell Jamae Kathryn Campbell (born October 31, 1961, in New Orleans, Louisiana) is an American folk singer-songwriter. Kate's songwriting follows in the southern literary tradition with an emphasis on a sense of place, race, and religion. Her story-f ...

- ''The K.O.A Tapes, Vol. 1'' (Large River) * 2017: Bobby Osborne - ''Original'' (Compass)

References

External links

* * *
Compass Records

Academy of Bluegrass

Online Bluegrass Bass School with Missy Raines
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raines, Missy 1962 births Living people American double-bassists American bluegrass musicians American women country singers American country singer-songwriters Women double-bassists Bluegrass musicians from West Virginia 21st-century American double-bassists 21st-century American women singers Singer-songwriters from West Virginia 21st-century American singer-songwriters 20th-century American double-bassists 20th-century American women singers 20th-century American singer-songwriters People from Mineral County, West Virginia